Batgirl Beyond: Dangerous Obsession
by AnimeKitty1896
Summary: IN THE BATGIRL BEYOND: RED NIGHT UNIVERSE. Bat family Beyond age Oracle and savvy biochemist Maxine Gibson finds herself stalked by her shadows, as the past and present collide. Will she be swallowed up by her demons, or will she overcome with some help from her friends in the dark?
1. Prologue

Prologue:

 **-Five Year Ago-**

Solid arms encircled Maxine Gibson's middle, making her smile. "You're late." she declared.

"Sorry, I was working on this amazing surprise for this amazing woman I know." Carver Hawkins, Max's long term boyfriend- oh, to admit it at her age…- pressed a kiss to her cheek.

It was a small barbeque and pool party at the not-so-small upstate villa of Terry McGinnis. A few of her goddaughter Alexis McGinnis' friends ran around, hitting each other with water and scarfing hot dogs. It was a retro affair, with Lexi's father Terry McGinnis, manning the grill. Other parents rounded out the chaperoning group of adults, most of whom were sitting in the shape talking. The party had started almost an hour ago, and Max had been worried Carver had shade, abandoned by their children. Again. Lately, he had been like that, forgetting arrangements, dates and the like. To know it was for her made it somewhat more palatable.

"Oh?" she murmured, returning a kiss of her own to his firm lips.

"Uh-huh, but she'll have to wait-" A sudden burst of cold water hit the bikini clad biochemist on the back. She gave a sharp squeak and turned around to see Lexi with a water gun a few feet away, in front of the grill. Clad in a light purple tankini ensemble her mother had foisted onto her an hour ago in lieu of the dark green swimsuit Lexi favored, she looked like an impish little sprite, her shoulder length jet black hair hiding devil horns most likely.

"Kissing is gross." the ten year old declared, smirking before raising her Super Assault Soaker IV at the couple and dousing them.

"Lexi!" her mother Dana Tan-McGinnis, hissed at the Asian American girl.

"What?" the suddenly innocent girl smiled.

Reaching under her chair, Max slowly pulled out her own Mega H2O Blaster and pumped it once. A quick glance confirmed that Lexi was still distracted by her mother. Winking at Carver, she unleashed a steady stream of chilled water on her goddaughter and, accidentally, her good friend Dana.

"AAAEIII!" the two female screeched, catching the attention of everyone around them.

Dana wrenched the gun from her daughter's hand and fired back at Max, who dodged, leaving Carver to get soaked.

And that was how the water war began. At first it was Dana and Lexi vs Carver and Max, and then they accidently hit the Queen matriarch, who then roped the adults into a Children vs Adults war that soaked the grill and Terry. Hot dogs and hamburgers abandoned-"I guess we're having pizza, then."- the secret vigilante dove into the war with water balloons at the ready.

For half an hour, the party was in all out war, until finally the children exhausted the adults to submission. A truce was declared that involved ice cream and pizza for each child and abstaining from cleaning rooms for eternity.

Finally, after the children all went upstairs to change, Max and Carver were able to get back to the matter at hand. "So, my surprise?" she prompted.

Carver grinned, a lopsided slash of white teeth against dark mocha skin. "You really have a one-track mind, Maxie."

She wrinkled her nose at the abhorrent nickname. "Just tell me."

"Okay okay…" He got up for a second, rummaging around in his knapsack for a few moments before coming back with a small orb or something. He knelt in front of her with it like he would a box from Tiffany's, face expectant. It was black, opaque with no openings or hinges. So much for that theory, Max mentally lamented.

"You got me a ball off obsidian?"

Carver frowned. "What? No- Oh wait one second…" he went back to the sack and returned with an eye dropper. "Okay, okay….Now!" He depressed the eyedropper over the orb and she saw it dissolve the dark covering, revealing a platinum band with a mid-sized pink diamond in the middle of a set band of black- probably obsidian, since it was her favorite mineral.

"Oh, Carver, it's beautiful…" She was awestruck. It was her dream engagement ring. Not flashy or high maintenance but sedate and sweet. Like the man in front of her.

"So, will you?" he prompted.

She frowned. "Will I what?"

He blinked before sheepishly chuckling. "Oh, yeah… Will you marry me?"

Max's lips parted on a small, "oh," before she vaulted into his arms, repeating, "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!"

For every "yes" she pressed a kiss to his face. Around them, adults clapped and 'awe'd.

"Ew! They're kissing again!" she heard her goddaughter yelled, " Julie, get the water blaster!"

Max and Carver smiled against each other's lips. "Should we surrender, Sergeant Gibson?" chuckled Carver lowly. Their eyes twinkled at each other, her deep brown pools into his bright hazel orbs.

"Never surrender, Lieutenant Hawkins...Now hand me my blaster before she gets ammunition."

XXX

 **-The Present-**

"Hey, Lieutenant Hawkins." Max said to the cool marble headstone.

The Neo Gotham cemetery was almost deserted. Several people were attending to farther off graves: a mother and three children, a son who was speaking animatedly to a grave a few feet away, and a solemn looking widow dressed in all black.

"It's been a while, Hawkins… A long while. Sorry I haven't visited as much as I used to…" She paused, passing a gentle hand over the curve of the stone marker. "I'm trying to move on, forget the past and all that… I told you I work at Wayne Powers now, right? It's a pretty fancy gig, we should have gone there from graduate school... There's a science gala tomorrow night- the big Einstein brain-soup, as Lexi calls it… I made it before you...Without you…" Max sighed deeply. "God, I miss you so much…"

Max knelt in the hardened earth of the ground, though was careful of the thatch of wild daisies pushing from the ground. "I came to get some encouragement, you know? It's a big shindig… I could use some help from-wherever you are."

The wind answered her, slightly ruffling her black and pink asymmetrical-cut bob. "Well, just watch me wow the crowd with this discovery, alright. I'll make you hella proud, Hawkins." she forced a grin, before letting her face collapse to a sullen mask. "I'll always love you Carver. Never forget that."

Rising to her feet, Max made her way from the cemetery, holding back a well of long banked tears and sobbing. Seh had to move on. Carver wasn't around anymore. She had to survive this alone.

XXX

AK: Hey my beauties, I'm back with a Max-centric story. You know that old saying that superheroes can never have easy love lives? Well being the new Oracle makes Max a bit of a tragedy magnet. Don't get me wrong, I love Max! I really do… But I'm about to give her major depth here. R&R, please


	2. Chapter 1

"Your invitation code, please." the mechanical voice at the reception door drawled.

Alexis McGinnis frowned at the hovering host-droid that stood between her and the delectable shrimp puffs she saw making their way around. No one got in the way of the teen heiress and shrimp puffs.

"Here, let me." her godmother, Maxine Gibson, chortled. She swiftly keyed in a sixteen digit combination.

The droid hummed for a moment, the blinking retina system a whirring yellow light show, before its "eyes" solidified as green. "Welcome, **Doctor Maxine Gibson** , and **Guest**. Please enjoy the festivities until the benefit's main event at **twenty-two hundred hours**."

The pair of women walked in and surveyed the reception hall.

It was a grand affair, with only the most respected and decorated scientists in attendance. The fifty-seventh annual Pulier Gala for Scientific Progress & Academic Study; or the Einstein brain soup, as Lexi called it.

"Let's find our seats, Lexi. Lexi?" Max turned around to see her guest stalking the hovering trays of shrimp puffs. With a small eye roll, Max went to intercept her, only to find herself cornered by three familiar faces.

"Dr. Gibson, how are you?" Dr. Jedediah Rosen chortled, grabbing her hands in his meaty mitts. He shook them vigorously, jostling Max's purse.

"Oh, Dr. Ros- Jed. So nice to see you again." Max greeted, amending her greeting at the elder scientist's look of disapproval, a small smile playing on her lips. Dr. Rosen had been a guest scientist on a project Wayne Powers had developed last year. A small scale project to increase the engine power of a research submarine, it wasn't much of something. But she had grown fond of the elder scientist who treated everyone like a grandchild.

"Hello, Dr. Gibson," sneered Dr. Olivia Langley. The blond folded her hand over her chest, pushing out her less than ample boobs, and screwing up her face at Max.

"So nice to see you again, Dr. Gibson." Dr. Theodore Lakewood drawled. The older brunette leered up and down Max's outfit, and Max had the sudden urge to wrap her shawl around the deep gold dress.

"Ah, yes, you mentioned you used to work for EDGE Labs. Max dear." Jedidiah turned to her.

Max smiled tensely. "Yes, for about six years after grad school." Before Carver's death made working there unbearable.

"We were all so sad to see her go." Langley said, saccharine sweetness dripping from her voice. Max almost checked the floor for the syrupy residue.

"It was time for me to go. Find an area to grow as a scientific peer, you know how it is." Max smiled sympathetically.

"Of course…" Langley loftily agreed. Lakewood was more scathing. "More like you ran right into the cozy arms of your rich married boyfriend." the jealous researcher muttered low in tone.

Jed frowned, confused. "Pardon?"

Max frowned. It wasn't the first time people mistook her closeness with Terrence "Terry" McGinnis as a secret affair. Many even viewed her as the reason Dana Tan-McGinnis moved into a condo downtown. What they didn't understand was that she was best friends with both Dana and Terry. While Terry tended to stay more local, Dana however, travelled frequently to extinguish problems in her steadily growing fashion brand. She couldn't be photographed as often with Dana as with Terry and Lexi. It irked her, but she rarely let it color her mood.

"Now that's rich," piped Lexi from behind the pair, having made her way back. "Coming from a two-bit scientist who only keeps his job due to heavy handed nepotism."

"Wha-Who-?" Lakewood whirled around only to come nose to nose with Lexi. In her four inch heels, she was the same height, if not taller than the red-faced scientist.

"Lexi," Max said.

"Who is this?" Jed asked.

Lexi supplied her hand for a shake and a warm smile. "Alexis McGinnis, Dr. Gibson's goddaughter and guest for the night. I expressed an interest in the neuroscience HartCore Medical is displaying tonight, and Aunt Max allowed be to tag along." She tactfully ignored Lakewood and Langley.

Max stifled a snort of laughter as she registered all of what Lexi said. Expressed an interest. That was a lie. Max had had to call in all her saved favors and promise her copious amounts of shrimp puffs to come tonight. Her goddaughter was a hell of an actress though, and she'd done her homework.

"Ah, a wonderful study, so full of uses and endeavors. It could potentially help to eradicate neurological diseases." Jed beamed as if it were his own theory. "I know the lead scientist Rebecca Klein."

"I was hoping to hear about some more practical uses to the machine they're unveiling, such as helping identify and aid in the cure for NDD." Lexi imparted.

Neurodegeneration Disease, a new form of disease that had become common in the past couple of decades. No one was actively seeking to cure it, the only methods available highly experimental and dangerous.

Jed blinked and Lexi explained how she thought it could work. "Well...My word, child. Becca has yet to even think that far. You have the makings of a scientist already. Might I interest you in an internship in a couple of years."

Lexi blushed and waved him off. "Oh, no. All that wasn't me. Aunt Max has been going on and on about how revolutionary the machine could be. I mean, the applications are endless. I'm sure Dr.s Langley and Lakewood have already told you all of this."

Lakewood looked shamefaced, and Langley was too busy trying to figure out the price tag of Lexi's black and scarlet knee-length off the shoulder dress.

"Well, no I-" Lakewood was interrupted by the sudden announcement that the benefit would soon begin.

"We'd better get to our seats then." Jed sighed. "We'll talk later, Max dear. Such an intelligent and boisterous goddaughter you have."

Lexi smiled and waved them off, before turning to her godmother and declaring, "Well, I see time hasn't improved those two at all."

XXX

Lexi flopped back on the couch after returning from the Einstein brain-soup-thing.

"It's not the 'Einstein brain-soup-thing'," Max tried to educate her goddaughter. For the fourth time. "It's the Pulier Gala for Scientific Progress & Academic Study." The mocha-skinned woman also slumped into the couch next to Lexi.

Dana stuck her head out from the kitchen. "Hey girls, back from the Einstein brain-soup-thing already?"

Max groaned at Lexi's smirk of triumph. "I give up… Is it alright if I stay at your place Dana?" Max asked, lifting her head slightly so the words travelled farther.

Dana frowned. "Sure, but why? Didn't your place just get renovated?"

Max grunted. "It did, but… I dunno. Something feels weird about it. Like I'm being watched or something... "

Lexi sat up, a frown on her face. "Do you want me to check it out? I mean, I'm not biochemist-slash-bioengineer, but I can scan a security system like a boss."

"No, no… I was like this when I lived upstate for the EDGE Labs too. It felt like I was being watched for the first couple of weeks. Carver said I was just imagining things. Maybe it's the newness…"

Sensing the sad emotions rolling off her best friend, Dana interjected. "So, what's new in the world of science? Pick up any more new words for my poor non-genius mind?"

Dana liked to joke she and Terry were the average people to Max's genius. But then again, the two separate were worth 4.3 million dollars and a whopping 13.9 trillion. Max may be a genius, but she was a genius on a budget. Besides, genius only got people so far. Determination was what had made Dana a fashion icon and rising designer, and what made Terry a worthy successor to the Wayne empire.

"Other than being attacked by jealous wannabes, we learned that the applications for GothTecha's new multi-plastique are infinite." Lexi chimed, kicking off the Mari Wangs on her feet and sighing in relief.

"That sounds torrid and gossipy, tell me more," the former fashion model plunked down on the couch with a bowl of ice cream.

"It's not really all that torrid. GothTecha just played with expensive putty on stage for half an hour and then bragged about how unique it was from others on the market."

Dana shook her head. "Not that. The jealousy attack."

Max smirked. "Are your dramas on hiatus again?"

"No… One finished and the other went on the seasonal break; so _tell meeee_!"

Max relayed the story- minus Lakewood's underhanded comment- as Lexi dished up more bowls of ice cream. Once she was done recapping, Dana hugged Lexi tight. "I'm so proud of you!"

"For what, proposing a theory for curing NDD?"

"No- okay, maybe- but for standing up for your aunt. Lakewood and Langley are toxic whiny babies. I never liked them." Dana vented, stabbing the ice cream with a spoon. "They said my rump roast was tough at the company picnic we went to all those years ago. It was not tough."

Max didn't have the heart to tell her friend that the rump roast had been a brick.

"They've only gotten worse." Lexi agreed.

Max smiled contentedly. Lexi and Dana were truly mother and daughter. Overprotective and ready to defend their friends to the end. Sometimes- _most times_ \- it was a bit much and grated on coddling. Tonight, Max was okay with being coddled. Sort of. "You, two are overreacting. I'm fine… Besides, after that burn Lexi laid on them, they steered clear all night."

"It _was_ shway…" the youngest McGinnis allowed.

"Hey, I have an idea. Why don't you pack a bag for the night Lexi, and stay over with Max and me? It can be a Tan-McGinnis-Gibson sleepover. I'll break out the mani-pedi bot and we can eat junk food."

Max saw what the Asian model was doing. And she couldn't not approve. Lexi nodded. "I'll grab my overnight bag."

XXX

AK: Chapter 1 and done!


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Sweet Memories**

The man wore all black, a sharp contrast to his shock of white hair. He stood poised over the city, a shadow without purpose, but with great focus. His eyes- an eerie contrast of black sclera on bloodshot red irises.

He stared out at the city, eyes taking in what he wanted. The woman- no, he amended after a closer look, not a woman; a girl- with pink hair laughing as she rode on the back of a cycle.

The girl wasn't his target, not his prey.

"Ender. Come in, Ender." the com link in his ear demanded.

He raised one hand to his ear slowly to patch through his vocal response. "Yes."

"Status update?"

He grit his teeth before biting out. "In progress."

"Then get to completion, Ender." The annoyance in his contact's voice was evident. "We don't have time for this."

He watched as the girl laughed and cheered as her driver, a helmet clad boy, probably a few years older, joy-rode through the traffic. He was skillful, but stupid. The girl was even more foolish than him, throwing her helmet at the luxury car that honked at them. It dented the front windscreen, and left the girl unprotected.

"I make time for this." Ender growled.

"Ender, don't-"

But he lept from his perch, already assured in his actions.

XXX

Dropping Lexi off for school the next day, Max took a detour by a favorite spot of Carver's: The Oakland Cafe.

It was down South cafe with rustic decor and a cut e ma-and-pop couple who ran it. She hadn't been by in three years, having avoided most everything too saturated in the memory of Carver to bear. As soon as she entered, she saw apparitions of the past. She and Carver sitting in one of the booths discussing work. She and Carver sharing pie by the counter. She and Carver playfully arguing over the colors for the wedding. Right before the accident.

He wanted to see me wear white, Max thought dejectedly, and I kept insisting that we were past the archaic day and age wear brides needed white to symbolize a new beginning in their lives. The sharp pain in her chest increased, but she pressed on. Make new memories, she mentally repeated, approaching the counter.

"Hey there, sugar." Ma Oakland drawled, sending echoes of the past up Max's spine. "What can I get you?"

Max cleared her throat. "Can I get a large slice of coconut cream pie with a cup of black coffee?"

"Sure as sunshine, sugar." the rotund elder said. Max paid and went to sit at a table by the door.

As she waited for her order, she watched as pedestrians passed by. There were an alarming amount of young couples around, and Max realized it was three weeks until Valentine's Day. A younger Max had viewed it as a commercial holiday aimed at increasing profit garnered from new delusional and aged jaded couples. The Max with Carver had still held those views but gladly double dated with Terry and Dana. Now, Max keenly felt Carver's absence every day. It was like a hole existed inside of her, which logically, she knew was not present. Psychological studies showed however that it could be the result of a hormonal lapse…

"Maxine? Maxine Gibson?" a voice questioned.

Max looked up to see a somewhat familiar face. It took a moment before things clicked. It was her former boss from EDGE Labs, Vance Colter. "Mr. Colter, so nice to see you again."

"Max, please…" chuckled her former boss, "call me Vance. The wry smile on his tanned face looked as artful and glamourous as ever. "May I join you?"

Max blinked. "Of course, of course. I'm just waiting on-"

"Coconut cream pie and black coffee." Ma Oakland finished, setting her plate in front of her. She lingered for moment, assessing Max with her wrinkle framed eyes. She shook her head and wandered off when a passerby stuck their head in to see what the place was about.

Vance laced his fingers in front of himself and stared at Max as she bit into her first taste of coconut cream pie in ages. She barely resisted the urge to cry. The taste of many of Carver's kisses: coconut, a hint of lime and graham cracker.

"So how has the competition been treating you?" Vance asked goodnaturedly.

Max swallowed her bite of food and emotion, chasing it with a swig of her black coffee without sweetening it. "I'm good. Wayne Powers Labs are actually working on a new battery for the market right now."

"Oh really, care to share." He leaned in.

Max leaned back, a chuckle flying free from her lips. "Sorry, I'm not at liberty to divulge such valuable information. But, I can assure you, it will be the hit of innovation when it does surface."

Vance sighed. "Foiled again… But how have you been, Maxine?"

She wrinkled her nose slightly. He always did love to call her by her full name. She never did like it much. "Oh I've been fine. Great actually."

Vance looked like he was about to say something when he paused and frowned down at his lap, retrieving his phone from his pocket. "Excuse me, Maxine. Hello?" he answered tersely.

Max tucked into her breakfast in the meantime, sweetening her bitter brew of caffeine with four sugars and two spoons of milk. Oakland still had that early 20th to 21st century feel to it. She loved the place, partially because Carver had and partially because it reminded her of the stories her mother used to tell she and her sister.

"Sorry Maxine. I have to go." Vance stood after hanging up the call. "It seems my juvenile son has finally been found."

"Junior was missing?" Vance Colter, Junior was Vance's rebellious son. He walked around like the world owed him something. And he got into trouble like a fish swam in water.

"Took off the day before yesterday on his new bike. They have him down at the precinct." Vance shook his head. "I honestly don't know what I'm going to do with him…"

Max was thinking military school, but it wasn't her place to judge. Heck, she mentally shrugged. She could say it. "How about military school?"

Vance chuckled at the idea. "They'd kick him out. Believe me, sometimes I feel tempted."

Max smiled. "It was nice seeing you, Vance."

"You too, Maxine." Vance smiled in return.

He left the shop and Max was alone at her booth with her pie and memories. She took a long sip of coffee. "Damn, these memories…"

XXX

AK: Coconut cream pie and coffee? I honestly don't know if that's the breakfast of the future, but it's what she's having so… R&R! Also, scary red eyes dude is important!


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Old Friends**

"Does you dad seriously not have connections to Method:Cal records?" Ricky pouted after school that day. "Like, none?"

The gang was exiting the building,

Lexi sighed. "I swear, not even one…" She stared down at the latest news update from the Gotham Report, pensive.

Julie noticed the frown on her face. "What's up, McGinnis?"

"Looks like I made the news again." She showed her best friend the article on the Gotham Report.

"' _Gotham Teen with a Golden Heart: Alexis McGinnis_ '...Golden?"

"It's an article on my campaign to clean up the highways and interstate roads downtown. But that's from three years ago, and I'm supposed to be a _silent_ founder." Lexi stressed. "I didn't _want_ to be in the headlines."

Julie frowned. "Oh yeah, I remember… That humanitarian project you started freshman year. The one you did _everyday_ , rain or shine. Why don't you do that anymore?"

"Dad wanted me to focus more on school, and I could see people who came only wanted to use my name. So I conceded chairing it to Madison Foutley, who expanded it and made it amazing. But she's barely mentioned in the article!" Lexi frowned.

"That bites." Stephen frowned.

Lexi exited the site on her tablet. "I'm calling her when I get home, and that reporter: Martin Wake."

A sharp and familiar whistle rented the air as her feet touched the sidewalk. She looked over to see blond teen dressed in the Star Prep uniform, leaning against the passenger door of a sleek green car. "Hey there, pretty lady," grinned Eugene Queen. "Need a ride?"

"Gene!" Lexi exclaimed, beaming at her childhood friend and fellow rich kid. She rushed at him, hugging him tightly. "What are you going here?"

"Oh, you know, just came to see my favorite heiress. But Gwyneth D'Angelo is still in her college classes, so I came to see you." Gene joked.

"Har-de-har-har, Queen. One of these days...What are you doing here?"

"Oh you know… My 'rents are in your city, visiting some branch office, and I don't have to be at school until Thursday for gym class, so I thought I'd stop in and see my favorite heiress. But Diana's busy, so I thought I'd see you."

Lexi lightly socked her childhood friend in the arm. "Shut up, prep school. You're on my turf, now."

"Ouch, I'm telling Mellie you're picking on me." he joked.

Lexi rolled her eyes. "As if she could make me stop."

"Uh, Lexi? Who's he?" questioned Ricky.

Lexi blinked. "Oh, Julie's already met Gene. But you guys never did. Guys, this is Eugene Queen, my childhood friend. Our parents move in the same circles when we were growing up, and he used to live in Gotham during the summers. Gene, these are my friends: Ricky, Stephen, Jared, Harry, and Angie."

Gene made a gallant gesture. "Pleasure to meet you all."

"Hey."

"How's it going?"

"So he's rich, too?"

"Jared!"

"Can I get a selfie with him? He's cute."

Lexi rocked back on her heels, and shared a look with Julie. "We were going to Rhino's to hang out and then the arcade. Wanna jump in on this?" offered Lexi.

Gene looked down at his uniform. "Let me grab the change of clothes in the car and I'll walk with."

XXX

"Crown me King, peasants because I just trumped the Queen." Jared grinned, as Gene slumped against the console of Cosmic Quest: the Paladin's Revenge. Everyone in their group groaned, as the braggart danced a victory dance on the console mat.

"It's so not cool." Harry pouted, as she sat in Stephen's lap. The Blasian poet murmured something in her ear that made her snuggle into her boyfriend's embrace.

Jared wrinkled his nose at the couple. "First decree as King: no lovey-dovey stuff."

"Stop being such a sourpuss," yawned Julie.

"That's so not cool, Watson." Ricky groused. She was currently texting her new boyfriend, a guy she met at work.

"Not my fault you guys can't handle the Terminator." Jared grinned. They all groaned at his outdated nickname.

As Jared gloated, Gene shot a beseeching look to Lexi, who pretended to ignore him. She examined her protoo-gel manicure. She really lived for the lilac color, just shades lighter than her Batgirl costume icon. She was not getting involved in another one of Jared's contests to impress Julie. They never worked and he always got pouty about it.

"I nominate Lexi to dethrone the tyrant." Gene spoke up.

All eyes turned to the heiress. "Nuh-uh." Lexi denied.

"Come one, please?" Ricky begged.

"Please…" Harry pouted.

"Do it for love." Stephen added to the emotional blackmail.

Lexi sighed. "Fine…" The group of past contenders cheered. "Let me refresh my game pass and I'll school the King in the subtle art of graceful losing."

"In your dreams, McGinnis. I am the champ!" Jared taunted.

Lexi sauntered off to find a pass station, humming the instrumental theme song to the Cosmic Quest franchise.

she stood in line behind a group of middle schoolers from Gotham Heights, still dressed in uniform. She surveyed the crowd around her, her gaze locking onto a figure that looked out of place.

A black man dressed in all black stood in the middle of the arcade floor, staring straight ahead and talking on his phone.

For some reason, he made her pause. He was vaguely familiar, in an eerie sort of way. His shocking white hair and hidden eyes threw her even more than the sense of newness around him. It was on the tip of her tongue, who he was…

He suddenly tensed and started moving. His gaze was trained on… "Is that Junior?" she murmured.

Sure enough, Vance Junior and a posse of other kids from Gotham Academy skulked the floor, sneering and pushing a few of the younger patrons out of their way. Mystery Guy moved purposefully towards them, and bumped right into Junior, and kept walking. A baiting move for an egoist like Junior. Immediately, Junior puffed out his chest and yelled, "Hey!" at the retreating back of the guy.

Mystery Guy scowled at him. "What, punk?"

"Do you see this jacket?" Junior gestured to the Gotham Academy blazer he wore.

"Yeah? What of it?" sneered the guy.

"It's a designer jacket. You dirtier it," Junior growled.

Mystery Guy pulled himself to full height in front of Junior and his cronies. "Is that a fact, punk?"

"How are you gonna pay for it, clod?" Junior smirked, bolstered by the supposedly menacing looks of his cronies.

Lexi could already see where this was going as she put twenty-five more creds on her card. She grabbed her receipt and tailed the moving party. She sent a quick text to Gene for good measure, the hero in her driving her to follow. Something tells me Junior's fat mouth is gonna get him in trouble…

XXX

AK: So I guess dark Lexi's back. Will she break bones? Will she crack heads? And who is mystery guy. I'll give you a hint, he's not the Batman. R&R!


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: Tracker Tag**

Vance Colter, Junior knew he was tough. He rolled with the Brace Crew, the fiercest gang in North Gotham. The police couldn't touch him. He drove fast and lived dangerously.

But the excruciating pain in his stomach made him think twice. The guy he'd chosen to pick a fight with from the Indigo Arcade was a beast of a man with no scruples against clocking kids.

His friends gone, he knelt doubled over in pain as the guy loomed over him like some psycho.

"Now who's paying who, punk?" the guy sneered.

Suddenly, a flash caught their attention. Both men looked to see who had intruded. A raven haired girl stood at the mouth of the alley, phone focused on them. "Lay another hand on him, and I send it to all my contacts. Come at me, and I'll have the police here in seconds." the girl dared.

The man above him frowned. "He started it."

"Are you a freaking six year old? Yeah, he started it. And the police can end it, if you want."

He hissed in pain. Did she think he would be happy if she saved him. How humiliating. "Fuck off!"

"Shut up, Colter." snapped the girl. She looked familiar…

The man chuckled darkly. "You don't know what you're getting into, little girl."

"Try me, cupcake." retorted the girl.

A pregnant pause fell on them before the shadow of the man moved away. "If we meet again, punk. You're dead." the man vowed.

"Go." ordered the girl.

He snapped his jacket around his shoulders and stalked from the alley. And he was gone.

In another beat, the girl was kneeling next to him, frowning down at him. "You really can't keep your mouth shut worth shit, can you, Colter?" Alexis McGinnis muttered.

Junior hissed in pain as she pressed her own hand over his. He smacked her hand away. "Don't touch me!"

She put her hand back and pressed harder. He howled in pain. "I think you need a doctor." she said.

"I think you need fucking English classes. OW!" Junior roared when she pressed even harder. "Stop hurting me!"

"Stop being a menace." McGinnis growled. "I guess you don't need a doctor if you can be that freaking annoying…"

Junior vaguely remembered McGinnis. She'd been a student at Gotham Academy for a year and a half before transferring to public school, of all things. They hadn't been close. They hadn't really interacted beyond that group science project back in sixth grade. She'd been quiet, observant and creepy to him, staring at him with her blue eyes. She'd been weirdly friendly to all the scholarship students too, he briefly remembered of her.

"Get off me, McGinnis!" He wrenched his hand from under her grip and shoved her back onto her butt.

Without missing a beat, she rolled to her feet and scowled down at him. "Grow a pair, Colter. I was just trying to help."

"I don't need your help," he wheezed.

"Yeah, cuz your other friends are so helpful…." She sighed and punched something into her phone.

"We ain't friends!" he stressed. She barely spared him a glance as she texted whoever it was. He struggled too his feet, all while she watched warily. "I could've handled that."

"Sure you could have." McGinnis rolled her eyes at him, then proceeded to tap something in on her phone again.

"Lexi!" a voice called before he could retort her reply. They both turned to see a dark brunette rush at the heiress and hug her tight.

"Julie, I'm fine. I just had to take care of an urgent call." She glanced at him before returning her attention to the small group of people that followed the girl- Julie.

Julie's eyes went from McGinnis to him and then snapped back to McGinnis. "You didn't-"

"No! No- I came to answer a call from my mom about the summer trip to Milan, and found Super-jerk over here getting pounded by this guy. I scared him off by pretending I took a picture, then you guys showed up." McGinnis explained.

That explained why she was out and around at the time… Junior scowled. "You butt in just when I was about to let him have it."

McGinnis once again rolled her eyes and shot at look to her posse of followers. "He's fine, now. Let's get back inside so I can cream King Jared at Cosmic Quest."

A familiar-looking blonde in a designer shirt and jeans- probably McGinnis' trophy boyfriend- frowned at her. "You sure? We can call the police and wait with him."

Junior bellowed, "No police!" He'd just been bailed out of going to juvie by his father, again. One more time and he knew his father would leave him to rot in the detention center to help him build "character".

"Completely. If Colter has that much bluster left, he can make it home to daddy dearest." McGinnis sneered as she ushered her posse away. "Besides, I still need to order a memorial stone for Jared's ego before I put it six feet under…"

A dark skinned and dark haired member of her group snorted. "You wish, princess. I am the king of the Quest."

As her group left the alley, a wincing Junior whipped out his phone and dialed for his chauffeur.

As he climbed into the limo, he failed to notice the two tracers on his school blazer. One was a discreet little patch that blended with the navy blue material. Another was tucked into the collared lining of his blazer pocket, where the bat-shape of the microscopic tracer was even further obscured.

X

"Argh!" Jared hissed as he felt the subdued jolt of his avatar freezing up.

"Hiyah!" Lexi cried as she jumped up and dodged the pale green mist that flowed from _Thortaz_ 's snout.

Lexi slashed the virtual dragon-alien in its Achilles' heel-the left ankle- before Jared had time to recover from the paralyzing gas she'd dodged. She followed it up with her character Kitana's signature strike. "Berserker Breaker!" her avatar shouted as the series of flashes and sword strikes played out before Lexi's goggle-covered eyes.

It didn't finish Thortaz off, but it put a major dent in his HP bar, and from there, Kitana deployed her final trick. "Second Art: Tribute of Resonance!" Kitana's voice called out in Lexi's ears.

A less-powerful version of the signature move played out, costing Lexi two thousand points of attack, but worth it all the same.

"WINNER: Player 2- **L3X1** " scrolled across the screen and Lexi whipped her helmet off to smirk at Jared, who looked like he'd just seen her for the first time.

"Three games in a row," Gene slapped hands with her as she stepped down from the platform to let the middle schoolers watching have a turn. The pimple-laden twelve year old looked at her like she was a goddess.

"That's my girl!" Julie gloated, pulling Lexi into a hug.

That seemed to snap Jared out of his trance. "I challenge you again!" he cried.

"Oh, no!" Ricky snarled, wagging a finger at him. "You are not keeping us here until you finally wear Lexi into _letting_ you win once to save your pride."

Harry joined in on the admonishing as well. "It's over, Watson. We have a new Game King- Queen Lexi in the house!"

Lexi mock-bowed. "Thank you, my first decree is that we get out of here. And fast. I think the floors here are becoming a permanent addition to my boots." She wrinkled her nose as she lifted her foot from the always sticky and somehow greasy floor of the arcade.

Her friends laughed and agreed. "Pizza at Casa de Ricky?" suggested Harry.

"Hey!" objected Ricky.

On cue, Lexi's phone rang. She knew it was her dad with a match on the goon. "Hey dad." she answered.

"We've got a problem, Lexi." her father replied.

Lexi's voice didn't falter. "Yeah, Gene's with me…"

"Meet me in the cave. And bring Queen. I sent Micah for pick up."

"Really? Okay. Bye…" Lexi hung up and gave her friends a pained look. "Sorry guys. Looks like me and Gene have to go."

"Aw man…" Harry frowned.

"Not cool, McGinnis." Angie pouted.

She shrugged. "What are you gonna do? It's a rich kid thing. Yeah, we have a six figure trust fund. But at the expense of some social time."

Gene snorted. "Speak for yourself. My trust fund is _seven_ figures." They left the arcade, laughing and joking, until a tall blonde guy stepped into their path. He stretched out an arm, catching Lexi's chin and tilting it upwards. "Hey pretty lady need a ride."

Lexi rolled her eyes at Micah Queen's comment before she slapped away his hand. "Been there, done that." _And you're lucky I knew it was you, Micah, or you'd be walking with a limp!_

"Um, Lexi? Who is this Adonis?" Ricky demanded to know. "And why have I never seen him before?"

All her friends were eying Micah like he was an alien. And he was eating it up, egging it on with a princely smile and debonair stance. _They would never survive meeting Superboy_ , Lexi thought of the half-Kryptonian clone.

"This is Micah Queen, Gene's older brother. Micah, this is everyone." Lexi introduced.

Micah smiled. "A pleasure to meet anyone who can put up with the McGinnis Princess."

She kicked him lightly in the shin. "Shut up, _Odette_." She used his middle name, which he hated. She knew he hated it.

The blonde college student saluted his brother and ruffled Lexi's hair, much to her consternation. "Well, I gotta take the brats home now. Maybe I'll see you guys around sometime." Micah said.

"Unlikely." Lexi muttered as she climbed into the deep green sports car, which had become synonymous with Micah.

As they pulled away from the curb, she turned her thoughts from present to past. Junior… What the hell ever happened to you, she thought, settling into the leather upholstery of Micah's backseat.

XXX

AK: Hottie alert! And Julie's suspicious! Lexi's batting a full [insert-correct-baseball-term-here.] As always, R&R!


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Ghost**

"So who is Mystery Man?" Lexi asked as she walked into the bat cave. Her father was at the Batcave computer, typing things into the interface. Beside him stood her mother, which was uncommon. It was usually Max, because she knew the updated system better than anyone.

Her father barely looked up from the monitor. "We don't know."

Lexi was confused. "What?"

Her mother clarified. "What we mean is, we have a hunch."

Lexi made her way to the monitor to see more of what they were working on. She had taken a picture of the incident, despite what she'd told her friends. And after spotting that tracker Mystery Man had placed on Junior, she'd sent it off to the Batcave computer via the encrypted algorithm installed in her phone's secondary system.

Sure enough, there was the picture of Mystery Man looming above Junior in the corner of the screen. A front shot picture of Mystery Man, with jet black hair, filled at least half of the screen. "This is Special Corps Lt. Steele Washington." Terry informed her. He tapped in something and another picture filtered into the screen. "And this is Lt. Washington's obituary. He died three years ago, according to military records."

Lexi frowned. "Did he fake his death?"

"Possible." Terry confirmed. "But the military would be thorough about one of their Special Corps guys playing possum. These are the most elite domestically-stationed soldiers in our country. There's no way they wouldn't check every contingency and orifice to see if he was alive or dead. Not to mention, his file only becomes accessible after death. It seems he was in the thralls of depression following the death of his parental figure, and he'd been a victim of a bank heist gone wrong."

Lexi hummed non-committedly.

"That doesn't explain what he wants with Colter Junior. Senior, I'd understand, but to target the kid?" Dana pointed out.

"Junior is a jerk, plain and simple." Lexi said. She thought back to their science project fiasco from middle school. _Yeah, he's a jerk of epic proportions,_ Lexi thought wryly. "But I wouldn't spend a military grade tracker on him. He was definitely aiming for Junior's crew. I don't know what he did with the other guys before they bailed, but Junior was tagged."

"Then, we'll have to keep a solid eye on the Colters and see what our supposed military ghost has against them."

"What about the Colters?" Max asked, striding in. She was still wearing her long lab coat and lab scrubs.

Lexi shared a look with her parents. Vance Colter had once been Max's boss. They filled her in and Max sighed. "I ran into Vance this morning, and he said Junior had been missing for three days or so. That kid is really something else. Toxic."

Terry frowned. "He was missing for three days and Colter Senior wasn't panicking?"

"I'm guessing this isn't the first time Junior's pulled a disappearing act for days." Max surmised.

Dana was pensive. "Still, to just let him get away with that…"

"I did feel like prying at the time, considering it was the first time in years I'd seen my former boss." Max informed them. "And I was having breakfast."

Lexi shrugged. "Chances are our ghost is hoping for access to the EDGE Lab projects to sell them on the black market for a cool mil. You make a lot of money selling gen-tech and designer drugs that way." _And EDGE is certainly easier than most, being privately funded and dependent on flashing their innovations at less-than-legitimate potentials to attract them._

Max groaned as she rolled her shoulder. "I think I'll turn in for the day. I've been working overtime to finish the Cryo-Drug project."

Lexi was instantly concerned. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. But I might as well get some rest before I wake up tomorrow for that meeting with the board bigwigs on the project's continued funding and lab testing."

"Then I guess you'd better turn in for the night, after you eat something." Dana reminded the scientist.

Max frowned. "Seriously?"

"I picked up some Chinese food on the way back. Low mein, stirred fried veggies, white rice, tofu fried rice, and orange chicken." Dana told her.

XXX

Max let herself into her apartment and sighed as she set her purse on the table by the door and closed the door behind her. "I'm home…" she called into the darkened place.

Silence greeted her and she sighed, padding closer in. She stripped off her white lab coat and threw it over her couch back. She grabbed a new bottle of body wash and made her way into the shower, murmuring under her breath.

"See? It's just an apartment…" she muttered to herself, shaking her head as she stripped down and climbed into her shower.

As she scrubbed her skin, she hummed an old song from her childhood. A noise suddenly caught her attention and she strained to hear over the running water. When she heard nothing, she went back to lathering up. The noise, like the shuffling of feet, came again.

She reached out and snagged a towel, letting the shower run. Retrieving her safety baton from under the sink, she silently tiptoed from the bathroom.

The shuffling came from her kitchen-living-room area and she frowned. She'd closed her door and locked it. She knew she had.

The shuffling moved closer and she gripped her baton tighter. She crept closer to the mouth of the hall, breathing shallow and measured.

Finally, she rushed forward and took a swing at the dark figure in her living room. She caught the intruder off-guard but was quickly repulsed by something. She hissed out a breath as lights danced behind her eyelids.

The front door of her apartment opened and she briefly caught a glimpse of a svelte figure, backlit by the hallway lights. Max gasped and then the figure was gone.

She stayed like that for moments, before she pushed to her feet and called for the police. In short order, she called Dana.

"Dana...can I stay over again tonight?"

xXx

AK: So...R&R, please!


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Security Measures**

Lexi grit her teeth as she willed herself to walk past the brooding, uniformed jerk at the bottom of the steps.

"Hey, Lex," Julie grinned as she finally caught up to her best friend. "Why'd you stop?" Her eyes finally landed on the figure Lexi was trying to vaporize with her eyes. "Oh."

Lexi sighed. "Let's go, I have to be at that interview by six. Maybe if I ignore him, he'll take a hint."

Apparently he couldn't take a hint. As Julie and Lexi came down the stairs, Vance Colter Junior stepped into their path.

Without looking up, Lexi said, "Move."

"That's a whole lotta bite, McGinnis." Junior sneered down at her.

"And that's a whole lotta hair gel, _Junior_." Lexi dragged his name out. She smirked as his left eye twitched in annoyance.

"I want to talk to you." Junior stated. "Alone." He pointedly looked at Julie.

"Schedule an appointment with the Wayne-Powers people, and I'll try and squeeze you in. Right now, I'm busy with my friend."

They stepped around him and continued for five steps, before Junior stepped back into their path again. This time, with his stupid wallet out. "How much to make you leave?" he demanded of Julie.

"Excuse me?" Julie hissed.

"How much?" He pulled out his credit card. "I'll wire you the money right here and now. I want her time."

Lexi saw red. No one insulted Julie on her watch. She grabbed his stupid gold credit card and, with the practiced skill of her Batgirl-alter-ego, sent it whizzing into the street. When it was run over by a street cleaner, she felt a dark satisfaction. She rounded on Junior. "Listen, you overbearing, underdeveloped spawn of Colter, I won't stand for you insulting my friends. Meeting denied." She turned to Julie. "Let's go, Jules."

Julie looked like she wanted to go ape on his skull, but she followed Lexi. "Right behind you, Lex."

"This isn't over, McGinnis." Junior decided to shout after her.

"Hell yeah, it is." Lexi muttered under her breath.

xXx

"Why are you here?" Lexi hissed as soon as she laid eyes on the figure posted against the pillar outside the building.

She'd just stepped out Gotham Towers, having finished an interview for Cameron Yin of the Gotham Spotlight, and she had been hoping to wind down by jumping into her "night gear" and taking a short patrol. And she knew she had to keep it short, because there was a Physics test tomorrow in her second period class.

"Is there a problem, Miss McGinnis?" the security guard asked. She glanced between the concerned man and the menace that plagued her. Authority had no real power over it so she went for the private exorcism route.

"No, no trouble at all, Mr. Wint. Just a bit surprised." Lexi assured him. She waited until he was safely out of ear range before whirling around and hissing. "Are you stalking me? Seriously?!"

Junior smirked. "I told you it wasn't over."

"And I told you, to go through my publicist." Lexi shot back. "I'm a very busy girl, and I have no time for your insanity. Now, if you'll excuse me." She started towards her limo. It was one of those perks to being a rich kid that she enjoyed very much: chauffeur driving for media appointments.

Junior snorted. "Oh, I get it. You think you're better than me."

Lexi froze, slowly turned to look at him and blinked. "What?"

"I saw the show." He gestured to the huge screen in the lobby which was tuned to an old episode of Into the Celeb, which she'd taped last year. Mr. Wint's partner, a balding man with dark hair, was seemingly engrossed in it. "You think that just because you go around doing charity shit, you're better than me."

Lexi scoffed. "Think what you want, _Junior_." She turned to get into the back of the car.

"You're not so special, McGinnis!" he yelled after her. "You're not better than me just because you have old money and new money."

Lexi rolled her eyes. "It's not about being better because I have money. One day you'll understand."

"And one day, you'll get knocked off that pretty little pedestal Daddy Dearest bought you." Junior sneered.

With that, the car rolled off, and Lexi left her former classmate on the side of the road. Her chauffeur, a stoic English transplant by the name of Thomas Alfred, glanced at her through the rearview mirror. "Should I inform your father that stronger security is in order at the next interview?"

Lexi shook her head. "Don't bother, Thomas. He's all bark and no bite." Junior was a class act bully, but that was all he was, an act. She'd briefly known him back at Gotham Academy, and had learned that he wasn't as tough as he liked to make himself out to be.

xXx

Vance Colter, Senior, frowned as his son came into his downtown office. Despite his passion for the science, Vance ran other businesses besides the EDGE Labs. His father had often railed against the pursuit of science, in favor of capital interests. He smirked at the framed picture of his deceased father above the antique bookcase. The old bastard wasn't there to dictate his son's life now.

Junior took a seat in front of his father and grumbled. "What did you want?"

Vance stared down at his son's bent head. "Are you familiar with the Wayne Powers heiress, Alexis McGinnis?"

Junior stiffened. "McGinnis? Yeah, she was in my science class in middle school." He was reddening.

Vance smirked. Perhaps his plan would be easier to accomplish after all.

"I feel that you should try to be more friendly towards her." Especially if he wanted his plans to come to fruition. He needed not only Maxine for this, but access to Wayne-Powers' clinical files.

"No way, she's a bitch-"

"Junior."

"She is." Junior stressed. "She thinks she's better than everyone because her father schmoozed some old money Gotham billionaire into handing over his fortune and company." Junior crossed his arms and spat, "Like the fact she's technically 'old money' makes her better…"

Vance frowned. "Her godmother, Maxine Gibson, once worked for me. I ran into her the other day. You know, she mentioned Alexis was single." He let his gaze sharpen. His son seems to absorb the information and then shook himself free of whatever delusional fantasy took hold.

Junior frowned. "I don't care."

"Well, no matter… I implore you to try and get on good terms with her. It would be better for business to cater to whatever whims Miss McGinnis pushes on you." He needed an "in" so to speak, for himself to get closer to Maxine. And Wayne-Powers Pharmaceuticals, he amended mentally.

"Doesn't matter what Junior wants, again, huh pops?" Junior seethed.

Vance massaged his temples. "Junior, I'm doing this for your future. When will you accept that?"

Junior scowled. "Whatever!" He stood abruptly and stalked from the office. Once he was certain Junior was gone, he pressed the keypad of his phone and called one of the many minions on his payroll.

"Yeah, boss man." came the slurred voice of Devon Brace, leader of the Brace Crew.

"Entertain my son tomorrow. And do it right this time." He hissed.

Devon muttered something before grunting, "Sure, we'll take him to the rink, and watch him spin like a sparkly little pussy."

"Careful, Mister Brace. I would have for your supply to run out."

A short pause. "We'll hang out with Junior tomorrow."

Vance smiled coldly. "Good."

After hanging up, he turned on the hidden camera in his son's room. He saw Junior enter, and throw things in disarray, his backpack knocking the laptop on his desk off the edge and under his bed. He kicked off his Timberlands, threw his Rolex to the dresser and stripped off his blazer and dress shirt.

Vance sighed. "Teenagers… so hard to control them."

XXX

AK: Ladies and gentlemen, the most helicopter parent ever! Sorry I've been gone so long. Sophomore year is hectic. I may start doing just the bi-monthly updates.


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: Stalking & Skating**

Max was surprised to see her former boss again, this time near her more frequented cafe.

"Mr. Colter, what a pleasant surprise." she chirped despite the utter bafflement she felt.

"Maxine, please, call me Vance." He smiled a smile that didn't quite seem realistic. "We are old acquaintances, now. Not boss and employee."

"I'll do that…" Max replied diplomatically. "What brings you to my side of Gotham?"

"An overseas investor of mine is staying in Gotham Towers, and suggested lunch to look over a renewal of funding." Vance replied.

"Ah," Max said relieved somewhat. Now she wouldn't have to spend time with him. "Then I won't keep you."

She moved to go around him to go into the trendy coffee shop.

"However, I could use your opinion on something." Vance's words stopped her.

"Yes?" Max asked, sidestepping a small trickle of customers from the coffee shop.

"Is there a nice and safe place for our meeting? A nice restaurant you recommend?"

Max sighed inwardly. Of course, she thought. "Magnolia's on 8th Street is pretty nice. And the Lounge has a very safe atmosphere."

xXx

"Go Angie!" cheered Ricky from the sidelines at Central Rink.

Lexi and the girls were watching as Angie and her new Spoke Hydraulic hover-blades showed the Stephen and Jared what it meant to tear up the obstacle track.

It was Angie's birthday, and for it, the gang had chipped in to buy her the new skates- which the girl had not-so-subtly told them she wanted. Like, she told them every week since the beginning of the month.

As it was the group's tradition to pool money and buy one gift, rather than they all try and outdo each other, there was several cards with the one present. Angie had lit up like a megawatt TV set light at seeing the hover-blades, and promptly decreed a birthday celebration at Central to break them in.

Stephen and the ever competitive Jared had stepped up to show their mettle against the birthday girl, after everyone else bowed out.

As they trio on the private obstacle course neared the line that would signal the fourth and final lap, Lexi's stomach grumbled.

Julie frowned, looking over at her friend. "Did you feed that thing before we came?"

Lexi shrugged. "I'll feed it now. Want anything?"she asked the group.

"Nachos, large." Angie yelled over the screen as she passed. She never missed a food summons, despite being a size 2, at her heaviest.

"The triple bean chili. Hmm…" Ricky drooled, handing over creds.

"Curly cheese fries," Harry supplied. "And make it a double order." She thumbed through her wallet for her creds.

Julie stood. "I'll come with. BTW, you owe me food, McGinnis."

Lexi rolled her eyes. "I always owe you food." It was true, somehow, Lexi always owed her food- but oddly enough, she rarely collected.

As the two waded through the concession stand line, Lexi checked her phone. Two messages from Gene, and a picturemail from Melodie.

"Interesting…" she murmured.

Julie looked up from her phone to say something but her eyes narrowed as something behind Lexi. "Don't look now, but I think you have an incoming annoyance."

Lexi frowned. "What?" Micah and Gene, and even Melodie were safely back in Star City, and on their best they weren't annoyances. Well, she amended, two out of three weren't.

"McGinnis!" a familiarly annoying voice sneered. "So you do slum it with your cronies every once and awhile."

Lexi didn't even spare Junior a look. The line shuffled forward, and the girls stepped up. "Did you hear something?" Lexi asked Julie.

"A fly, or something?" Julie shrugged.

"Hey!" Junior hissed. "No one disrespects me, McGinnis. Especially not twice."

"Funny, I thought you'd have to be capable of respect, for disrespect to be used." Lexi muttered, loud enough that the couple in front chuckled at the barb.

"You think you're something special, cuz your dad's made?" Junior fell back on his old adage.

"This feels like a repeat of last Thursday…" sighed Lexi, moving up in the line. "Junior, I do believe I am- at the very least- a special existence to you. You're stalking me at almost professional levels."

"Aw, looks like prep school has a crush." Julie sang, snickering.

His pale face reddened to almost scarlet. "I'm not!- You're a-! Fuck!" he swore, stomping off.

The girls high-fived one another. "Very nice, Lady Hanson."

"Thank you, Duchess McGinnis." smirked Julie. "Is this what private prep school was like?"

Lexi frowned. The truth or the watered down truth. Watered down. "Oddly enough, no. It was more like 'who had the most expensive villa in the most tropical-slash-snowladen place. Or whose vacation cost the more money. Things like that…"

Julie mock gasped as they stepped to the front of the line."And yet you didn't stay, and tell them of all the blissfully free vacations we have staying in Gotham." She shook her head. "For shame."

"Thank you, Meryl Streep. Yeah, we'll take a double order of cheese fries, the nacho combo platter, and the super sampler with mozzarella sticks, onion rings, and boneless wings."

"Fifty-three creds." the drone replied.

Lexi exchanged the money in her fist for her credit card. They were five creds short.

"Your order will be out in...five minutes," the drone reported.

As they waited, Lexi and Julie surveyed the skaters at the rink.

"He looks like he's professional." Julie murmured of one guy who strut across the main lobby like a peacock.

Lexi wrinkled her nose. "Try extreme poser. Those skates are brand new, as is the rest of his ensemble. And those are definitely not made of breathable material."

The blond guy in question was completely decked out in what looked like the coolest gear for bladers. But Angie had informed them last year of the disasters of Zap Bar, the brand blond poser was wearing.

"Hmm… Point of you. How about the happy couple? I say they crack louder than Jared's ego after Stephen destroyed him on Insidious Battle IV: The Unlocked Edition."

The couple did indeed look tense and ready to explode. "True…."

"Order 47, your food is ready." the human worker called.

Lexi and Julie loaded their arms and made their way back to the private obstacle course. "Food's on!"

Angie, who had come in from the rink, attack the laden trays for her nachos. "Oh gooey, cheesy goodness…"

"..BELIEVE YOU INVITED YOUR MOTHER FOR THANKSGIVING!" They heard a woman screech from outside the door.

Julie shot Lexi a wry look. "Told you so."

xXx

Night fell in Gotham and Ender was on the prowl.

He stalked the streets in a dated hat and battered coat. Downtown Gotham, sometimes called Old Gotham, wreaked of crime. His palms itched to do something about it, but he had his orders. He had a goal.

He followed the younger Colter as he skulked through Old Gotham in a posse of rich kid goons.

The whole lot of them were from affluent families, all prep kids from Gotham Prep, and all thought they were badass-invincible.

Ender easily kept pace with them in the shadows, using the crowd and then streetlights as coverage. They entered a rundown neighborhood, the six plus Colter a mini-mob that caught eyes but quickly made them look away.

They came to a dilapidated apartment complex. Ender watched as the lead teen- a rich punk Homebase identified as Devon Brace- pointed to the brickwall of the group- a tubby little porker named Edwin Phillips. He said something and then took the steps to the building. The rest of guys followed and then Edwin took a menacing stance in front of the door.

Ender slipped further back into the shadows before making the four touch dismount to the roof.

He found a niche right before the roof and waited. Homebase theorized that their target lived in 23E, and she was rarely wrong with her intel.

Sure enough, Brace kicked in the flimsy door of the apartment, startling the hunched figure on the couch. A pale and skinny woman with greasy, dirty hair, the color hidden by the grime, stumbled to her bare feet, eyes wide.

"Where's our money, Irma?" sneered Yosif Berken, the crew's resident mouthpiece.

"Irma" shook her head. "Y-you're said- you said I-I had another w- week. Y-you promised." She looked accusingly at the teen, but held herself protectively.

"Things change." Berken leered at her barely clad body.

Irma backed away, towards her purse. Ruffling through, she threw a fistful of cash at them. "H-here! Take it! It's all I have."

Ender calculated seven hundred creds. Maybe half of Berken's reported allowance. Chump change to any of the families involved.

Ender growled low in his throat. In his ear, Homebase hissed, "Surveillance only."

Brace's eyes swept over the money on the floor before him. "Where's the rest?"

"I-I don't have it…" Irma mumbled shuffling closer to the window.

"Don't have it?" Brace cocked his head to the side. "Well that's fine then. Where's the interest?"

Irma's bare feet shuffled one over the other. "I don't...I- I don't…"

Brace sighed painstakingly. "Then I guess Yosif owns you now."

Berken grinned, an eerie grin of a budding sexual predator in the making. Junior stepped forward. "Dev, come on, the joke's gone too far."

Brace suddenly rounded on his morally awake peer, clocking him upside the head without a thought. Junior stumbled back into the other three guys. "Don't _ever_ call me 'Dev'!" His eyes had a crazy light in them. Murderous, but also painfully hurt.

The other three clamped down on his arms and kept him from further harm to Junior.

"Chill, Brace!"

"Yeah cool or we all lose out!"

"Douse it, Devon!"

Berken paid none of them mind, too busy visually stalking his prey. Irma was almost to the nearby door before Berken suddenly lunged and grabbed her arm. She yelped and tried to pull away, her scream drawing the attention of the others.

"Look what tried to get away." snickered Yosif.

"Please- just lemme go…"

Ender ground his molars, before barking to Homebase, "Sorry, I'm breaking cover."

"Ender, no-"

But he was already leaping through the window, showering glass over an unsuspecting Berken. The teen looked up too late, Ender's size twelve titanium soled boots hitting him square in the chest, rocketing him back and away from the cowering woman.

"Anyone ever teach you boys it's impolite to touch an unwilling woman?" Ender growled, glaring at the teens.

Berken slowly picked himself up off the floor, frowning. What the hell, Ender mentally calculated the entire scene again. He should have knocked Berken out cold. No teen could have resisted the concussion that force would have caused.

"Ender get out of there, now! You've been compromised!" Homebase crowed in his ear.

At the same time, Thatch Goldman recognized him. "That's the spook from the Arcade!"

"Fuck, is he everywhere?!" groused Derick Leslie.

Ender sneered. "I'm your worst nightmare come to life."

"Wrong," Brace growled, stepping forward, pulling a patch from his pockets and slapping it onto his neck. "We're your worst nightmare."

The teen rushed at Ender and he dodged. The wall behind Ender however was damaged beyond repair. The kid plowed through the plaster and some of the beams like they were ribbon and streamers. Definitely not normal.

Ender frowned as Brace can at him again, noting how his crew stayed back. So they were just going to leave their leader to his fate, huh, Ender thought.

From his peripheral, he watched as Irma slunk out to the balcony, not even wincing as her skin slid against broken glass. She was that desperate to get away from the scene. Ender stood in front of her.

"Ender, I will NOT let you COMPROMISE this mission! Pull OUT. NOW!" Homebase shrieked in his ear.

He turned it off. Damn, the woman was a banshee. Despite what Homebase thought, this wouldn't compromise the mission. This was him saving a misguided woman from being irreparably scarred by a bunch of underdeveloped and entitled thugs. He just needed Irma to get out of harm's way and then he would bail too. He had enough footage evidence on his body-cam to prove the Brace Crew's involvement with the target areas in which the drugs were being distributed. The only loose end to tie up would be where the runts would be sent- Arkham Juvenile Detention or The Quinzel Institute for Teens.

Brace came at him again, throwing sloppy punches and cheap blows that Ender danced around. He noted the unease on some faces of the Brace Crew observers. Junior was still knocked out cold.

Ender finally hit him when Irma's shriek distracted him. He grunted, amazed and slightly stunned at the strength behind the lame jab, and saw Irma dangling from the iron bar of her balcony. The blood on her feet probably made her slip from her attempted leap from the bar to the fire escape.

Brace kept coming at him, giving Ender no time to help her. He hoped she could hold on, because it seemed like his opponent wasn't just a drug dealer, but a druggie himself. The kid was taking Juggernaut.

xXx

AK: What is Juggernaut? Why does Ender care? Where is Max? All these questions answered...soon.


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Know Your Enemies**

Max frowned at the reports she was getting across her tablet. "This isn't right…" She tapped a few commands into the screen and watched as the virtual reactions and mixtures took place. Something was wrong with the formula The Labs created.

"Dr. Pinto, Dr. Giamori," she called, addressing the senior scientists on the project.

"Yes, Dr. Gibson." Dr. Pinto replied, looking up from the data he was receiving real time as the reaction took place.

"There seems to be a problem with the formula. The virtual simulations…" She went on to explain the lack of increased nullification in the pain-relief serum they were testing. The drug would assist cancer patients with receiving optimal levels of comfort while receiving chemo treatments and further testing. That is, if _Wayne-Powers Labs_ could perfect the formula.

As predicted, the live testing ran less than successfully.

Dr. Thaddeus Pinto shook his head. "That virtual testing algorithm of yours is top notch, Maxie-girl." Thad slipped into calling Max by the nickname he'd stuck to her the first day she worked at the Labs.

Max shrugged. "It's not perfect. It has its flaws."

The Chem-Oracle Lab was a high speed multifunction program that Max had created from scratch back in grad school, and continued to tweak and tune to the very day. It could simulate and test at least one thousand test runs of a chemical formula in 2.0007 milliseconds. Those results were then hyper-tuned to specifications that Max assigned to find any side-effects that were recurring or one-off. While many times the predictions were solid, sometimes it's predictions came back weird and completely off.

Dr. Giamori scoffed. "Nonsense, Dr. Gibson. It's a true work of genius. Are you sure you don't want to patent it. The big boss said the first royalty check alone could buy you one of the fancy German laboratories."

Max chuckled. "And what would I do with that? Show off to all my closest friends how scientifically advanced I am?" She shook her head. "Besides, how embarrassing would it be if the program told NASA it's rocket fuel would make the perfect candy formula?" Reminding them of the glitch that had hit the program last month.

"That was a great guffaw…" Dr. Pinto agreed, referring to last week's error, in which the Cryo-Drug had been deduced as a candy coating instead of a cryogenic stabilizer for patients of incurable diseases.

The rest of the lab work went smoothly, the night winding down just as well. Tomorrow was her day off, and she had the whole day planned out.

"I hope Dana remembered to make reservations…" She murmured as she tucked her tablet into her purse. She extracted her car key and unlocked the hot pink and black roadster.

As she slid into the driver's seat, she received a call. "Talk to me," she replied, answering.

"Hello, Maxine, I'm glad you didn't change your number." the voice of Vance Colter made the bio-chemist shiver. He always sounded so clinically removed from emotions, and yet so creepy to Max. Especially when he drew out her name.

"Mr. Colter," Max said in acknowledgement. She didn't even bother asking how he knew her number- they'd never exchanged them when she worked for him. Chances are he got it from her old work file. She was unlisted otherwise. "To what do I owe this call?"

"It seems my son's gone missing. I grounded him from an outing with his friends from school and he suddenly vanished from his room. The housekeeper said he just stormed right past her… I was wondering...Could you perhaps contact your goddaughter and see if he's been in touch? I believe they're close."

That showed how out of touch Colter was with his son. Lexi and Junior had never been close. In the school year she had attended Gotham Academy, Lexi hadn't made more that a handful of friends, from what Dana had told her. And Vance Colter Junior was not on that short list. But she humored him.

"I'll call her and get back to you."

"Thank you- and just use this number, it's my private line."

Max clicked off and called the Batcave's central communications system. Lexi and Terry were on patrol for the night at this time, and she was supposed to be manning the Computer.

"Oracle to Bats, Oracle to Bats."

"Batman responding." Terry answered.

"Batgirl responding." Lexi replied a few seconds later, followed by a yawn. "Sorry, but Downtown's pretty quiet tonight. I stopped outside a blues club and they almost put me to sleep in a set."

"Do you need to turn in for the night?" Terry asked.

"No, no, just need some adrenaline. But what's up Max?" Lexi asked.

"Colter Senior just called 'Maxine' to find out if 'Lexi' knew where Junior is lurking." Max relayed. "Apparently, discipline is not one of Vance's many talents."

"Gag me, why would i know anything about that poser?" Lexi scuffed, peeking through the Batgirl visage.

"He's clearly out of touch," Max confirmed, "Or he knows that his son is practically your new tail."

That elicited a ragged groan from Lexi.

"Still, that's a weird request to make of an ex-employee you only just ran into."

 _You don't know the half of it_ , thought Max.

"Well we can't suddenly go patrolling for Junior." Batgirl pointed out. A silence fell over the trio's conversation.

Someone grunted. "Seems like Wrath escaped from Arkham again." Batman growled.

"Should I back you up? I can be there in twelve." Batgirl said.

"I can handle Wrath. Keep patrolling the Downtown area. The Commissioner told me that increased gang activity is occurring there. We need to find out if the Ts or the Cyclones are making a comeback."

Batgirl didn't immediately respond. "Got it."

"Batman, out."

Max sighed. "Well, I better call Colter back. Stay safe."

"Kay, I'll check on Junior to make sure he's alive…" Batgirl replied.

xXx

Batgirl ended communication with a huff. Even when she wasn't Lexi, she was getting harassed by Colter Junior. It was like her own arch nemesis, without any of the drive.

She switched on her tracking scope, and a gridded map of Neo Gotham appeared in her vision. Another tap to her ocular transceiver and she had Junior's beacon on the grid. Where it was puzzled her.

"Downtown Gotham?" Batgirl frowned. Junior was as posh as anyone who went to Gotham Academy, despite his wannabe thug status. So why was the Prince of Ass Pains on her patrol route?

She frowned and set a course for him, calling her Cycle on BatWave.

The short trek to the old Abrams apartment building was blanketed by the short conversation between herself and Max, who was enroute to Wayne-McGinnis manor.

She crouched from a building top next to the decrepit complex, periscope optical function tuned to the wastoid guarding the door. She recognized Edwin Phillips from Gotham Academy. He'd been a fat kid with a big, fragile ego, and a Swiss banking father to back his every threat. The few years that had passed hadn't been kind to him, making him rounder, his face more pinched and his red cheeks even more pronounced.

A three-dimensional localization showed that Junior was several floors up. She heard a shriek, crash and shout.

She caught sight of a pale flailing form, clinging to a pole, the remains of balcony railing.

Batgirl sprung into action, engaging her propulsion jets and narrowly catching her as soon as the railing gave up on holding her. Even when they were safely on the street, the woman continued screaming like a banshee. Batgirl flagged down an awestruck pedestrian.

"Call an ambulance. Now!"

The woman she saved kept screaming.

"Miss, Miss you're safe." Batgirl informed her as the screams became sobs.

"Y-you have to help him- they tried to hurt m-me! H-here not going t-to-"

"Miss, you have to remain calm. I can't understand you."

The woman took a deep breath, and let out a ragged sigh. And she shaking relayed everything she could in under three minutes. "Please, save him!"

She nodded affirmatively and took off for the apartment.

What she found was the Ghost, Devon Brace, and his ragtag wannabe thugs.

"Well," she drawled, not bothering to hide her presence. "I guess the meat fest is almost done."

All eyes- save a passed out Junior- went to her.

"Batgirl?" questioned the Ghost.

"Batgirl?!" Brace seethed.

She smiled, and not a pleasant one. "Is this an extension for Gotham Academy?" Batgirl continued, jerk ingredients her chin at the insignia on Junior's blazer. "I'm going to have to see some hallpasses."

"Shit, Brace, we need to split!" one guy whined. _Smart kid_ , she thought.

"We can take her!" Brace brazenly declared.

"Oh, you can, can you?" Batgirl sneered.

"Stand down kid," groaned the Ghost, "This ain't your fight." He clamored to his feet near the balcony, uncoordinated, shaky and a whole lot worse off than Brace, or any of them.

"You should stay down, old man." spat Brace. "Or maybe you want me to keep you on your stomach?"

"I don't take orders from you," Batgirl snapped, deploying a restrained at the Ghost and binding him to the only intact wall in the apartment, "and I definitely don't do requests."

"Suit yourself, Bat- _ette_!" Brace laughed coldly.

She narrowed her eyes and went at him. She fainted him with a punch and whirled to a body kick. He barely grunted and made a grab for her leg. She smartly threw her weight away, pulling her limbs out of reach. She bounced to her feet in a low crouch and frowned. "Looks like you're a sloppy dancer."

Brace growled. "I can end this, and you!" He charged and her and she danced away, kicking him with a kiss of her fist. He tried to grab her arm and she activated the takers. He hissed in anger and pain as his flesh took 300 jules. He lurched back and she smirked. "Can't handle a little love bite?"

He roared in anger, his hands going for his pockets. One of his cronies yelled, "Don't do it; you know the limit is one patch!"

"Shut up!"

That intrigued her. So he was on something, an enhancer. And a potent one if the tremor in his voice meant anything. Whatever it was, it limited what Batgirl could do. Great, she thought glumly, better a stealthy retreat.

Batgirl crouched low before sprinting at Brace. He flinched before swinging at her, and she ducked at the last minute before deploying her pulsar Batarangs at his feet and rolling away.

"Sorry, but I only dance with danger, not dumbasses." She turned on her pulsar and the unstable ground broke under him. At the last minute Batgirl deployed a grappling line and clung to safety as her druggie fell two floors down. She frowned when a sweep showed she lost his cronies. And her Ghost.

"Fuck!"

xXx

"So we lost them." Terry summarized from Lexi's report.

Lexi grunted. "I should have kept a closer eye on him…"

"But you did bring back DNA samples before the place got swarmed," Max murmured from the Batcave's lab setup.

"And you're sure Junior was there?" Terry demanded confirmation.

"Positive; I tracked him there. And unless he has another identical set of cronies, DNA should show his crew was there too."

"Results should appear on the monitor when the test is completed." Max frowned, looking over a sequence of genetic code. She gasped. "It's not possible…"

"Max?" All attention switched to Max at the broken tone of her voice.

"No...no it can't... " her voice cracked and her face went blank. If she could have paled, Lexi thought she'd be a ghost.

"What's wrong, Max?" Terry demanded to know.

Max wordlessly shook her head, gesturing to the monitor. She dragged her fingers through her hair, sticking it up at odd angles in pink and black spikes.

Lexi frowned. "Max?"

Finally Max coughed out, "Our ghost- he's not so mysterious."

A few swipes on her tablet, and the five members of the Brace Crew appeared. "These are the composites for the DNA samples, confirming that Junior and his crew were there."

Terry and Lexi nodded. That confirmed Lexi's story about the fight.

Max wiped the screen with a few inputs to her tablet, splitting it and calling back up the profile for Lt. Washington again. "And this is the composite for Washington with the DNA."

"Further proof that Washington is our ghost." Terry said.

" _And here_ is the file for Carver's report from the coroner's office." Max choked out, calling up the report, including the DNA sample.

Lexi stared at it, frowning. The two pictures, side by side, gave her nothing. It wasn't until she skimmed their basic information that bells started ringing.

"They're siblings?" Terry said, baffled.

Max's eyes glistened. "Not just siblings. They're twins."

AK: Hey guys, long time no see. This is heating up quite nicely, isn't it? R&R, please.


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: The Lost Boy**

Lexi pushed her loose corn around on her lunch tray. "Can't believe he got away…" she muttered under her breath.

"Who got away?" asked Julie, taking a seat.

"Hey," Lexi looked up. "Just… some creep who snuck into Max's condo. He totally slipped past the security system and assaulted her while getting away." she lied.

"Really?" Julie took a bite out of Lexi's chocolate chunk cookie. "That sucks."

Lexi nodded. "She's freaked out about it and staying with my mom." That was true. The break-in had spooked her godmother in a bad way.

"Did you report it?" Julie asked, still munching away on Lexi's dessert. She absently stole the rest of Lexi's milkshake as well, pleased to find it was the strawberry shortcake flavor that had sold out.

"Yeah, the cops are swarming the place, trying to figure out who would want to break into her apartment. They want to start with the usual suspects first."

Julie hummed. "Jealous ex, jealous co-worker, maybe a stalker...Those are the typical ones. Except we both know…" She let herself trail off, sipping at the milkshake as the words hung unsaid in the air.

" _Except we both know that she hasn't dated since Carver Hawkins died."_

Carver Hawkins, the love of Max's life. Her fiance. Her partner. The beginning of a family Max had craved like nothing else. Dead in a lab accident, under some particular circumstances. His body lifeless in a remote area of the labs, Max had been called to the morgue to identify him.

Max had cried that day; the first time in a long time that Max had cried, according to Lexi's dad. And the first time ever Lexi had seen it. He'd been her longtime love. She'd hidden nothing from him, except her connection to Batman. But apparently, he'd hidden a lot. Like the fact that he was a mutant. And the fact that he had a brother in the military.

Lexi sighed. "I wish there was some way to find this creep." And if possible clear the demons the creep erected when he scared the shit out of Max. "Commissioner Jamison said he's got his most reliable on it but…" she sighed in frustration

"Too bad we can't signal Batman to take over the investigation. He'd probably be better than Commissioner Jerkwad." snorted Julie.

Julie hated Police Commissioner Silas Jamison and for good reason. He held Julie's past against her, like it was the only thing that defined her. Lexi wasn't much of a fan either, but professionalism as Batgirl deemed she at least stay objective on the clock; otherwise, she was as icy as nitroglycerin.

Just as Lexi was going to correct Julie, a shadow fell across their table.

"McGinnis." a familiar and annoying voice spat.

Lexi looked up into the face of Junior. "I know I told Teen Voice that I liked persistent guys, but this is bordering on stalking, Junior." she drawled before returning attention to her lunch, and formulating a plan to search off the radar for a trace of Max's would-be robber.

Unfortunately, Junior took her brush-off as an invitation to take a seat. She cursed their open air cafeteria. Lexi consciously distanced herself from the bright mustard yellow blazer.

"Doesn't our school have security?" muttered Julie, glaring at the prep school jerk.

"Look, McGin- Alexis… I just came-"

"For another verbal strip down?" Julie interjected.

"A little oral fist fight?" Lexi piled on,

"An auditory altercation?"

"A sound scrimmage?"

"A vocal dogfight?"

"The next epic put down in your continuing saga?"

"Just shut up!" roared Junior, bursting to his feet. At this point all eyes in their cafeteria were on him. His face was red with frustration, eyes glistening with something. "Forget I said anything!" He stalked off, growling at people who stared at him as he passed.

"Well that was one way to get rid of a pest." Lexi hummed. "Nice synonym shaming, Jules."

"Thank you; I didn't skip all of my English classes this week."

xXx

Afterschool, Lexi, Angie and Julie relocated to Julie's house after a long day of assuring Harry her outfit was perfection for her date with Stephen that night. "Fourteen black dresses," moaned Angie. "I never thought we would be forced to stare at fourteen black dresses for so long."

"A-style, halter, off-shoulder, sequins, one-shoulder," Julie began listing, "ruffled layers, strapless, spaghetti strap, sweetheart bold-strap, cocktail, flapper-style, and- what were the other ones?"

"Bite me." Angie muttered.

"Off-shoulder knit sweater, cable knit sweater, and cashmere cable knit." Those had been Lexi's contribution to the pile.

"Which one did she finally choose?" Julie asked.

"The cable knit sweater dress." Angie supplied the answer. "With my gold and black booties."

"Why does Ricky always seem to duck out of these sort of things?" Julie demanded to know.

Lexi frowned. Their usual foursome was one Ricky short, that was true.

"Because she can magically summon a date-slash-appointment from anywhere when she even smells a Date-Night fashion crisis." Lexi bitterly muttered.

Ricky had conveniently had a group date thing at four after their usual romp at Rhino's. She'd disappeared on her Moped, chattering about blond-haired green-eyed Adonises from Sweden her cousin Irene was hooking her up with.

"Why does she have a better hookup system than Little Miss Heiress." Angie pouted.

"Because this heiress likes to collect socially complex people and not shallow, self-absorbed bobbleheads." Lexi sniffed.

"Then why the heck do you hang out with me?" Angie snorted, prompting them to dissolve into giggles.

A knock on the door from Jonas announced the arrival of Cheez-E's Pizza, which elicited a rumble from the three stomachs. "I wish our school had a Cheez-E's near it." Lexi moaned.

"I wish our school let Cheez-E's deliver." countered Julie.

After devouring a pie and a half, Angie finally delved into what she wanted to know. "So… who was the mustard colored casanova that came sniffing around during lunch?"

"The same brain-dead prep kid from the roller rink." Julie supplied.

"How did he get past security?"

"The biggest mystery of all time." Lexi scoffed. "He probably bribed his way in." She wouldn't put it past him.

Julie studied her best friend. "What exactly happened between you two back in Gotham Prep?"

Lexi tensed. "It was nothing." she replied shortly.

Julie was unconvinced. "Lexi, spill it. We talked about this 'keeping it all inside' stuff,"

Lexi frowned. "This isn't the same."

"Come on, you can trust me. And, to a lesser extent, Angie too. You know that."

Lexi sighed. "This does not leave this room, okay. I mean, it literally does not. Back in sixth grade, I was partnered with Junior, and two other kids for a science project. We decided to do one on animal habits, specifically bats."

Julie frowned. "But you hate bats."

" _I_ didn't want to do bats, but I got outvoted; three-to-one. We talked to the Gotham Zoo zoologists and they said it was okay for us to shadow them from a safe distance with a zoologist present. We didn't all need to be there all the time, just two for each visit. When we got paired off, somehow I ended up with Junior.

"Before this, we hadn't really spoken to each other before. Maybe in passing, but never before then. I knew of him, but nothing else. The other two kids, I knew from the Gotham Prep Scholarship Program: Auggie and Pam. Things went smoothly enough with recording the data. It wasn't until the second-to-last day that things took a bad turn." Lexi told them, the memory sending shivers down her spine.

Angie, her slice of pizza long forgotten on the napkin in her lap, frowned. "What happened?"

Lexi smiled ruefully "Junior got 'lost'."

xXx

AK: Hey all! R&R, please.


End file.
